Today's Opinions

My family reported there was more snow on the ground at my parents’ house up in the Triad than there was at my godmother’s house outside my native Cleveland, Ohio, this past weekend. That’s unheard of — especially in December.

Mom and Dad even remarked that it was too early for snow in their neck of the woods. They get snow in their part of the Tar Heel state maybe once or twice a year, usually in January or February. Their local meteorologist, Van Denton, confirmed this, saying it was seven years since the area last saw snow in December.

There’s an old saying stating, “No good deed goes unpunished.” I was reminded of it during a recent radio call-in program where I was the guest. The topic was the conservation of resources, like water or electricity, something that is encouraged and applauded.

After three years of attending West Brunswick High School, my senior year was the first that came with an extra amount of loaded responsibility, which resulted in an extra amount of loaded stress. A weight was placed on our shoulders, especially kids like myself who were taking college-level courses, and it hasn’t been the easiest thing to manage.

Whether I’m in the office here in Shallotte, visiting my parents in the Triad or sleeping in my own bed in Sunset Beach (or Calabash; I get mail from the U.S. Postal Service with either town listed as my address), managing editor of the Beacon is a title I never remove.

Many thanks again to Michelle and Charles Griffin and their helpers for putting on another wonderful flotilla for the people in Brunswick County to enjoy the start of the holiday season. We also want to acknowledge Sharky’s Restaurant for the use of its business to help make this all possible. They raised around $18,000 in support of Brunswick Family Assistance to help local families have a Merry Christmas.

The question is not so much does the middle class need a modest tax cut, but the rational concerns are:

1) Do the very rich need a huge tax cut for the third time in 37 years of ever-growing debt to fund the cuts?

2) Should we ignore for another 10 years the working poor without health care, depending on food stamps to raise their kids in poverty, which is often another subsidy for many of the very rich who employ them?